Hypothermia, Drugs Cited In Teen's Death In Tahoe
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a California teen who went missing in South Lake Tahoe on New Year's Eve and was found near a snow bank died of hypothermia but also had drugs in her system.
The El Dorado County Sheriff released autopsy results Monday in the death of 19-year-old Petaluma resident Alyssa Byrne. Officials listed her cause of death as probable hypothermia, and said they found evidence of methamphetamine and multiple psychoactive drugs.
The teen had attended a music festival at Lake Tahoe Community College on New Year's Eve but disappeared afterward. A utility worker found her body near a snow bank a few days later.
Deputies say she may have tried to walk three miles in freezing weather to her hotel in Stateline, Nev. Authorities say her boot prints also suggested disorientation.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.)
